Mohammed Abu Aker sentenced as his father remains jailed without charge or trial

After nearly two years in Israeli occupation prison, Mohammed Nidal Abu Aker, 24, from Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison by the Israeli Ofer military court on Tuesday, 17 October. Abu Aker, a prominent activist in the camp, was charged with an array of allegations involving support for or membership in a prohibited organization.

He is the son of Nidal Abu Aker, a former hunger striker who is currently jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Imprisoned since 9 August 2016, Nidal has spent 15 years in Israeli prison, much of that time in administrative detention. A prominent leftist leader associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Nidal Abu Aker is also a journalist who created a radio program dealing specifically with the issues and concerns of Palestinian prisoners.

Mohammed Abu Aker has been imprisoned since 18 November 2015 and is scheduled for release on 8 December of this year.